Some of this is republished from last year;<\/p>\n
The other day, my friend, Matt Burden, wrote on Facebook that this weekend should absolutely include barbeques and picnics because that\u2019s how our fallen warriors would want us to spend a weekend remembering them \u2013 that we can push all of the worries in the world to the side because of their sacrifice. His point was that we don\u2019t need to visit graves, plant flags and flowers in veterans\u2019 cemeteries to honor their last full measure of devotion. All we need to do is live a life worthy of their sacrifice, and the sacrifice of their families.<\/p>\n
Most of those warriors would be embarrassed by the attention, well, I know I would. But then, I\u2019m embarrassed when someone thanks me for my service. It\u2019s not that I\u2019m not grateful for their verbal expression of gratitude, it\u2019s just that I never know what to say. There\u2019s not a day that goes by that I don\u2019t think of every one of my friends and soldiers who have been lost because of their service to the American people. In my mind, what I\u2019ve done doesn\u2019t even approach that which they\u2019ve done for this country and I honor their memory by living a life that they would consider worth what they gave to us.<\/p>\n
In that regard, every day is Memorial Day for me. I don\u2019t need to visit Arlington Cemetery and stand among the headstones. Everyday, I stand among the headstones in my mind.<\/p>\n
Mostly, those warriors who went on before us, just want you to enjoy the life that they helped secure for you. Enjoying the time that you spend with your family and friends, doing the things with your life that make you smile is honoring the sacrifices that were made for you. I think \u201clife, liberty and the pursuit of happiness\u201d were all mentioned in the Declaration of Independence.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not what you do one day out of the year that honors veterans, it\u2019s what you do the other 364 days. It\u2019s not the \u201cthank you for your service\u201d that matters, it\u2019s what you say to me before you know that I\u2019m a veteran.<\/p>\n
So I hope you have an honorable Memorial Day weekend.<\/p>\n
And there\u2019s the Lee Brice song, \u201cI Drive Your Truck\u201d, that celebrates how Paul Monti<\/a> remembers his son Jared Monti<\/a>;<\/p>\n